We Will Not Legislate Away Evil

Yesterday morning tragedy unfolded in Virginia as a reporter and camera man for a local television station were gunned down by a man intent, according to his claims, of inciting the race war Dylan Roof had so badly wanted. Last night, in Sunset, LA, a man killed a police officer with a gun then stabbed three women. One of the women died. The gunman from the morning died. The gunman from the evening was captured.

Immediately calls for gun control rang out, but there is thus far no evidence that more laws would have prevented these tragedies — unless guns are altogether to be banned, something the Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional.

The reality is that evil exists and we will never legislate it away. Bad things will always happen. Evil people will do evil things. We saw evil in Charleston. We saw evil yesterday. Unfortunately, too many are too blind to evil. Those who have eyes to see can see the evil in Planned Parenthood decapitating children and sending their heads in the mail making sure their eyes are closed. Those who have eyes to see can see the evil in the collapse of families and the rise of dysfunctional young people without a relationship with one parent or the other.

Evil exists. It exists in degrees. It is sometimes obvious and sometimes not. But it is here in the world. The only cure for evil is Jesus Christ. As our society becomes more secular and hostile to the things of faith, it will only get worse. Only the acts of evil will more and more come not in the form of violence but the in the form of conduct deemed acceptable and beneficial thought it is not.

Evil is always going to exist. It is never going to be exterminated by us. It will not be legislated away. But it will be exterminated on that final day. Until then all of us should work to be better neighbors with each other and those who have eyes to see and ears to hear should not shy away from pointing out the barbarous when the world itself turns a blind eye.

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Erick Erickson

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